How About a Bargain Home? Erm... Maybe Not

           Home prices are through the roof, right? Even if there is no roof! Homes that used to sell for $300,000 are getting bids for half a million and higher! Folks are moving out of previously expensive states and turning their new states into newly expensive ones. It’s a seller’s market.

          Surely there is somewhere on earth where home prices are not skyrocketing.

          Which makes me think of igloos.  You thought of that, too? See, we’re two peas in a pod. Or two ice cubes in a tray. Something like that.

So I checked out the igloo scene. It turns out Inuits never really lived full time in these cute little white half-bubbles. They were just for emergencies or hunting stays. And, while the blocks are made of snow with lots of air pockets, it’s not like you’re resting in a comfy resort. It’s still 70 below zero outside (Fahrenheit), and maybe 10 above zero inside.

I lived for three years in temperatures of 40 below (70 below if you include the windchill.) This was in Iowa, where penguins could relocate quite comfortably.  So I was mildly amused to learn that people pay considerable bucks to experience this bone-chilling, bitter weather.

What would you expect to pay for just a one-night stay in one? Forty dollars? And to buy one, what-- a couple hundred? I mean, the materials are free, so it's all labor. And a good igloo builder can throw one up in about an hour.

Turns out you can go to the north pole, rent “igloos” (made of glass or plexiglass, apparently), and have a glamping experience for just over $100,000.00. That’s right, 100K.  And this doesn’t include your thermal clothing or your airline ticket.

You can also buy garden igloos (much cheaper) to use as hot houses, right in your own back yard—or go “glamping” in them with the kids. But hey, if you just sold your house for five times its value, this igloo may be for you!

Bucky Fuller, who invented the geodesic dome, would be pleased. 

But I doubt he’d want to sleep in one above the Arctic Circle.

And, either way, you’ll need something to read, so I suggest my books.